Lesson from Improv Comedy: Be Willing to Fail
The Willingness to Fail
You have to be willing to fail. In improv comedy, you never know what's going to happen on the stage. Sometimes and audience is just not with you (or worse, they're drunk!). Sometimes an audience will throw you a curveball that for whatever reason throws you off. Sometimes you don't connect with them, and sometimes you say and do stuff that just isn't that funny.
As a performer, you have to accept that these things will happen. You have to be willing to mess it up big time.
Life is the same way. Some days the wind just doesn't blow our way. Sometimes you won't connect with people, or you'll mess it up. Sometimes you will try your darndest and still come up short.
Again, you have to be willing to fail.
The important distinction is that being willing to fail does not mean that you want to fail. In fact, you must want and intend to succeed. Being willing to fail just means that you won't be paralyzed by fear. You won't avoid taking action because of thoughts like, "but what if I fail?!"
One of life's great ironies is that the more willing you are to fail the less likely you are to actually fail! Once you accept the possibility of failure, it loses it's hold over you. This lets you focus on doing the task at hand.
Imagine that you are an improv performer, and you are about to take the stage for the first time. For most people, this creates a sense of nerves and fear. If you put your attention on what you are afraid of, than you have less attention to put on the skills you have learned and on the audience and on the performance itself. You have already reduced the likelihood that you will succeed before you have even taken the stage.
Another great irony is that in order to succeed, you must fail!
For years, I had the good fortune of getting a part at every single audition I went to. From high-school, through college, and for a year or so afterwards, I never "failed" at an audition. By eight years after college, I had only not gotten a part once!
I was pretty proud of myself. I must be pretty amazing to always get cast…
Unfortunately, I was deluding myself. No one succeeds all the time. If you never fail, than you are simply not doing enough!
I kept getting parts because I kept going to auditions where I knew I was eminently qualified for the role. I knew my chance of success was very high. This is the acting equivalent of playing it safe. Yes, I got parts, but I would never progress in my life or career by playing it safe.
Keep track of your failures. As long as you learn from them (and don't do anything stupid to burn bridges or hurt yourself!) they will be indicators that you are on the road to success.
I hope you end up with more success than failures. But, if you have no failures at all, then maybe you are not doing enough...
Related Tags: success, motivation, fun, goals, motivational speaker, improv comedy, funny speaker
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This article is an excerpt from Avish's book, "Improvise to Success!" To learn about the whole book, visit http://www.AvishParashar.com/store.asp
Avish Parashar is a dynamic professional speaker who shows organizations and individuals how to get what they want using the Art and Science of improv comedy. He weaves together humorous stories, witty observations, and interactive exercises from improvisational comedy to get people laughing, learning, and motivated!
For more free articles, downloads, and resources, visit: http://www.AvishParashar.com
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